Posts Tagged ‘1912’

I oft recall the Christmas tree
That bloomed when we were boys;
It seems a mystery to me
How it could hold the toys
That clung in clusters on each limb
Like grapes upon a vine,
While many a colored candle’s glim
On baubles bright would shine.

All through the reeking branches’ rifts
The wayward, wandering wax
Would gurgle over gaudy gifts,
And leave long tallow tracks;
Soft pills of purple paraffine
Would punctuate the hair
Of dolls and make their tresses’ sheen
A polka-dot affair.

The limp wax-drippings, light and dark,
Seeped down without surcease,
Bedecking beasts in Noah’s ark
With rainbow stripes of grease;
And lo a miracle was wrought
When falling candle clots
The litheless little leopard caught
And changed the creature’s spots.

The tainted touch of tinted grease,
Made a kaleidoscope
Of many a toy; the lamb’s white fleece
Was flecked like mottled soap;
The dark-bay horse was dappled blue,
The elephant turned green,
And other beasts assumed a hue
That ne’er before was seen.

Now distance lends enchantment to
Those lights of long ago,
And oft we fancy that they won
Our hearts with radiant glow;
The Yuletide tree when we were young
Seems fairer far than all
The boyhood pictures that are hung
On memory’s wide wall.

Dear Santa Claus: My coal bill
Is ninety twenty-four,
If you will take it off my hands,
I shall not ask for more.
I don’t care how you fix it,
Just so you let me out —
O, that would be a Christmas gift
Beyond a doubt.

Dear Santa Claus, my grocer
Wants money very badly,
If you will see him when you come,
I’ll leave it to you gladly.
I don’t care what you give him,
Just so the trade is fair —
O, that would be a Christmas gift
Beyond compare.

Dear Santa Claus, my butcher —
But do I grow prolix?
What say I send them all to you,
With leave for you to fix?
I don’t care how you fix them,
So long as they are paid —
But I expect too much of you,
I am afraid.

The following poem which appeared in the University of Virginia Magazine, published by the students, was written by L. Travis White, of Frederick, who is studying law at the institution:

Gareth to Lynette.

Then Gareth: “Here be rules. I know but one —
To dash against mine enemy and to win.” — Tennyson.

More soft than silken strands the hair
That tumbles round thy temples fair,
Tossed by the summer air;
Like roses bloom thy cheeks;
The droning bee they near deceive,
When proffered sweetness to receive
Some brim-full flower he seeks.

Thine eyes, like twin stars on the deep,
Soft-mirrored when the billows sleeps
And moaning winds their silence keep,
Shine tenderly; yet seem
They like the dewdrops when the lawn
Gem-strewn, doth greet the Sun of dawn —
And mockingly they gleam.

Near thee the lark on tireless wing
Hovers his sweetest song to sing;
To thee the zephyrs tribute bring,
With violent-laden breath.
The buds whose fragrance is most sweet
Are gladly crushed beneath thy feet —
Thrice blest in such a death.

But thy heart is as hard to lover’s pain
Like the rocks beside the storm-swept main —
Against them dash, in vain, in vain,
The waves of a passionate sea;
Yet slow to ocean yields the land,
The proud rocks crumble into sand —
So will I conquer thee!

— L. Travis White.

The News (Frederick, Maryland) Dec 4, 1912

L. Travis White is number 4 in the picture above.

Frederick High School’s Class of 1911 is once again part of the scene at the local school, at least in the form of the official class photograph presented to the school recently by Robert J. DiDomenico, executive director of Goodwill Industries of Monocacy Valley Inc.

The full story of where the old fashioned studio picture spent the last 60 years will probably never be known, although it can easily be visualized gracing the living room of some proud graduate’s home.

Whatever its history, the picture complete with handsome frame and glass, turned up as part of an anonymous donation to Goodwill and was spotted by Mrs. Barbara Coulter, secretary to DiDomenico, who recognized it as an interesting bit of memorabilia for the school.

DiDomenico agreed that this was a fitting disposition for the photograph and it was presented to George Seaton, principal of Frederick High School.

The picture, taken in the era of the old Boys High School, now Elm Street Elementary School, reveals several points of contrast with more recent high school class photos. Most obvious, of course, is the fact that the class is composed of only 19 members, all boys.

It is also interesting to note that the students are pictured in a West Point type military uniform, an indication of the schools’ past presently reflected only in the nickname “Cadets,” used by Frederick High athletic teams.

The students’ haircuts, on the other hand, are a bit on the full side with moderate sideburns not too different from today’s more conservative styles.

Most familiar, however, are the surnames, most of which are still prominently represented in Frederick County today. No effort has been made to tell how many members of the class survived, but Principal Seaton would be pleased to hear from any who might still live in the area.

Note: Mr. Paul Ryan has contributed this information in addition to a scanned version of the newspaper article in the El Paso Herald Post upon the publication of the bridge book. This information is included in a .pdf file for the interest of the bridge visitor and, in addition, a visually more acceptable version, also in a .pdf file format. Mr. Paul Ryan has also included the scanned version of the World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, of Littleton Travis White and also the scanned information collected during the 1930 United States Federal Census. Also include is the Social Security

L. Travis White’s sister, Roxanna, married the president of St. John’s College. What I found interesting were his comments to the Rotary Club about the educational revolution, and St. John’s “counter-revolution”:

COLLEGE HEAD TALKS TO CLUB

St. John’s System Explained To Rotarians By President

Educational counter-revolution by St. John’s College, Annapolis, shared discussion with the shortage of Maryland oysters as topics of discussion before the Wednesday luncheon meeting of the Frederick Rotary Club.

Dr. John Spangler Kieffer, president of St. John’s College and also of Annapolis’ Rotary, described the 100-book foundation of knowledge system inaugurated by the school in 1937.

W.R. Slemmer, chairman of the local Rotarians’ committee for an oyster-roast to be held later this month, changed the after-dinner talk of members from the day’s topic of “Education in Revolution”, to “will we be able to get oysters to roast?”, when he refused to continue sale of tickets for the proposed affair, until weather conditions and the bivalve market assures delivery of the food.

Introduced by his uncle, Rev. Henri L.G. Kieffer, the speaker of the meeting explained St. John’s College new system as anomalous, in that it is designed to maintain the “aura of college aristocracy, with democratic ideals.”

The highly honored Harvard graduate was made president of the Annapolis college last year, succeeding Stringfellow Barr in continuing the “nationally observed new-trend for education, started in 1937.” President Kieffer’s wife, the former Miss Roxanna White, is a native of Frederick.

Called Revolutionary

Dr. Kieffer explained that the St. John’s program is actually a revolution against the nineteenth-century revolution in education. That classical education of the past hundred years was not the complete fundamental knowledge necessary to developments of laboratory sciences and that elective courses were a compromise which undergraduates are not capable of choosing.

He deplored over-specialization in teaching undergraduates and summed up the program of his college system, as one intended to complete adolescence of students by training the mind to think generally and adultly; thereby being acquainted with the “principles” of the civilization in which he will live.

“We are living through a revolutionary period, as evidenced by the present loss of standards, faith and belief in things,” Dr. Kieffer said, “There is skepticism, dogmatism, on every hand. There is a general lack of knowledge and faith in fundamentals. We have lost the stability of the nineteenth century minds, because the atomic bomb disproved Maxwell’s system of physics,” the speaker concluded.

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland) Feb 12, 1948

* * * * *

Interesting “men vs. women” note in this article excerpt:

PARTY FOLLOWS FINAL SEMINAR

Mr. And Mrs. Kieffer Are Honored By Group At Library

Women may control the wealth of the country as statistics indicate, but it was the men who defended its economic system as opposed to the Communist theory in a lively final session of the Great Books Seminar in the C. Burr Arts Library, May 2 during the discussion of the Communist Manifesto. John S. Kieffer, director of adult education at St. John’s College, Annapolis, who has been conducting the Seminar, presented. The session concluded with a party given by Between-the Book-Ends Club in honor of Mr and Mrs. Kieffer….

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland) May 12, 1952

* * Census Records * *

John Kearnes White, the father, doesn’t every appear to be with the family:

1900 Federal Census – Frederick, MD

1910 Federal Census – Frederick, MD

In 1920, Mrs. White and Roxanna are still living in Frederick, MD, sans father, and Littleton Travis White is a roomer in Virginia, practicing law.

* * *

By 1940, Littleton Travis White was finally married, and to quite the YOUNG lady:

Living in El Paso, Texas, with his mother-in-law, young wife, and baby daughter.

* * * * *

According to his mother’s obituary, she was a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy:

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland) Apr 30, 1954

Travis’s father appears to have authored a book of poetry. The interesting part is the dedication:

J.H. Lankford, of Lewes, a small village near Delmar, Del., has what he claims to be the original and only hunting pig in existence. Sir Grunter, who is a thoroughbred Chester White first made his appearance at the Lankford homestead last August and was allowed to run around the house the a pair of small rabbit dogs. At an early age he showed signs of being a hunter and would follow the dogs to the woods and remain until they returned. When the season was open for rabbit hunting Lankford tried to induce “Piggie” to stay at home, but he persisted in following and he allowed him to go with the dogs.

Several rabbits were chased and the pig was constantly following the dogs, but when he found they were running ahead of him he would cut across. When the gun was fired the pig was first to grunt his satisfaction. Lankford will not sell the pig, but says he thinks after careful training he will be able to hunt him without the dogs.

Ashtabula, Dec. 17. — Eight dead and seven injured was the toll of the wreck here last night when a Lake Shore and Michigan Southern coal train struck a street car. Two additional bodies, that of David Stowe and Mrs. Rose Thompson were found today. All of the injured are expected to recover.

The coal train crashed into a street car on the Ashtabula Transit Line at the Center street crossing. The car, which was carrying passengers down town, was struck in the middle and demolished.

James McCutcheon and Thomas Mullen, motorman and conductor respectively of the street car, escaped serious injury. McCutcheon is being held pending an investigation.

The conductor’s register book, which was found among the wreckage, showed that 13 fares had been collected. It is believed that several other bodies are buried beneath the wreckage.

From the appearance of the wreck, it is thought that the engineer, seeing the car in front of his train, suddenly applied the brakes. Fully a dozen cars, filled with coal, were piled 50 feet high. Workmen started at once to dig away the coal which covered the debris of the street car.

It is said that the gates at the crossing were not down and that the watchman, on duty at the time of the collision, is missing.

Eighty feet of the wall in the brick building occupied by the Richards Bros., wholesale grocery was caved in by the derailed cars. A large hole was torn in Fred Dorman’s grocery and a load of coal dumped inside.

The Center street crossing is the most dangerous in this city, as four tracks must be crossed by the street cars.

Some like a fancy custard pie.
Or apple, mince or game.
Or some new-fangled article,
I ‘low, just for the name,
I ain’t so p’tic’lar’s some I know,
And different from the rest.
But the good old-fashioned pumpkin pies
Are what I love the best.

I’m hankerin’ for a piece, right now.
Of the pie that mother made,
When I came home from school I,d get
A hunk and in I’d wade.
And, (p’r’aps my mouth is somewhat large)
Though I’d resort to tears.
She wouldn’t give me another piece
Because it mussed my ears.

I’ve lingered here a lifetime since,
Put up with what I got,
But oft in dreams I’m back again
To that old familiar spot.
And then, at such times, I can find,
On the butt’ry shelf arrayed,
A row of good old pumpkin pies,
The kind that mother made.

— Philadelphia Times.

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Nov 3, 1898

Times Record (New York) Nov 4, 1943

FOR THE IDEAL PUMPKIN PIE_____Why Wait Until Thanksgiving to Enjoy This Exclusively American Delicacy? — Make It Now._____

Our neighbor came to call early this morning with lips stained a dark purple from a saunter through the arbor; on his arm he carried a basket of grapes and in each hand a big red apple, and in his buttonhole a spray of goldenrod, and the first red autumn leaf made him quite gorgeous. Under his arm he carried a pumpkin, so we invited him to breakfast.

One should not wait until Thanksgiving for the first pumpkin pie, but begin putting their appetite in training for the feast by some preliminary work on the American pastry.

Steam the pumpkin instead of boiling it, and when cool press it through a fine sieve or vegetable press.

For each pie allow a pint of this strained pumpkin, one cup of rich milk, one egg, one-half cup of sugar, one teaspoon of ginger, one-half teaspoon of allspice, one-half teaspoon of cinnamon and a little salt.

If the milk is brought to the boiling point before the other ingredients are added the pie will bake more smoothly.

The crust should be baked before the filling is put in, as this prevents it becoming soggy. Unlike most custard pies, pumpkin requires to be baked quickly. When the top is brown, firm to the touch and glossy it is done.

— Henrietta D. Grauel, in the Cleveland Leader.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Nov 11, 1912

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland) Nov 20, 1923

CRADLE SONG

For the frost-rime now approaches,
And the price of eggs is high,
While the grapes hang blue and purple
On the vines.
From their store the wild bee poaches
Knowing winter time is nigh,
And the pickle snuggles deeper
In the brine.

Winter’s coming, coming, coming,
And the vittles that it brings
Fetch a trembling tear of gladness
To the eye.
You can hear the turkeys drumming
While the first fall sausage sings,
And the whipped cream lights upon
A pumpkin pie.

Love, the scoffing of the summer
That they talk of leaves us cold
All these ices and these salads
Give no thrill.
Each day’s rations leave one glummer
Yeh, but pumpkin pies are gold,
Welcome, then the blizzard coming
O’er the hill.

Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, Indiana) Nov 21, 1929

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Jun 26, 1912

The Frost Is on the Pumpkin, So of Course We’ll Have Pie

Open Season For Dessert Popular Since Pilgrim Days

By LOUISE BENNETT WEAVER
AP Feature Service Writer

ITS OPEN SEASON for pumpkin pie, a dessert treasured in America since Pilgrim days.

In preparing this famous fall pastry, there are three important things to consider. First, the crust’ it should be short and well fitted into a deep pie dish. Second, the filling; it must be subtley pungent — not too spicy or too flat — and it should be very creamy and a rich brown color. Most important is the baking.

Cook the pie ten minutes in a moderately hot over — about 450 degrees. That helps prevent a soggy under crust. Then reduce the heat to moderately slow — about 325 degrees — for forty-five minutes to give the filling its desired velvety texture. Always cool the pie on a rack.

DRY PUMPKINS ARE BEST

You can use any of the excellent canned varieties of pumpkin for the filling or cook up your own golden fruit. If you cook your own, cut the pumpkin into medium-sized pieces, discard peel, seeds and fibrous portions. Steam until the pulp is soft and press it through a fine sieve.

Dry mealy pumpkins make the best pies. So, if your pumpkin is moist, cook it over a low heat or in a double boiler until the moisture has evaporated.

If your recipe calls for three eggs and you are a little short, you can substitute two tablespoons of flour for one egg. Add it with the sugar.

TOP DRESSING

Pumpkin pie fillings sometimes have a flecked appearance, but you can easily prevent it by thoroughly blending together the sugar, salt, spices and pumpkin before adding liquids.

The favored pie steps right out when it’s dressed up with a new topping. For instance, then minutes before time to take the pie from the oven, sprinkle it generously with grated cheese or carefully cover it wit ha slightly sweetened meringue flavored with a few gratings of orange peel.

Cocoanut, marshmallows, chopped candied ginger (just a dash), candied fruit peels, dates, raisins or nuts also introduce variety. Use them for topping or add them to the filling before it is baked.

A sponge or chiffon pumpkin pie is of the lighter, fluffier kind. Add the egg yolks with main part of the ingredients and then lightly fold in the beaten whites just before the mixture is poured into the crust. A whipped cream coating gives this pie a real party air.

A two-crust pumpkin pie is a novelty. Bake a one-crust pie, as usual and at the same time bake a lid of pricked crust that will just fit on top of the pumpkin. Just before serving the pie, slip the lid into place.

Mix ingredients in order given and bake in one crust. Top of pie should be sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon and dots of butter before it is put into the oven. Canned pumpkin is excellent. Crackers, rolled fine, can be added to mixture in place of the egg in pumpkin pie. Serve warm and topped with whipped cream.

Abilene Reporter News (Abilene, Texas) Oct 28, 1938

The Daily Herald (Chicago, Illinois) Jan 25, 1918

Positively Insulting.

“I know the pumpkin pie was rather thin as to filling,” said the landlady, almost crying, “but I don’t think he had any right to say what he did.”

“What did he say?” asked the second table boarder.

“He asked me if I didn’t think that the pie crust would be improved if it had another coat of paint.”

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Feb 7, 1899

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Oct 21, 1928

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26. — The art of camouflage has now reached the good old pumpkin pie. Mrs. G.M. King, of 241 William street, East Orange, N.J., today sent to the National Emergency Food Garden Commission a recipe for making pumpkin pie without the pumpkin.

Here it is:

Scald one quart of milk; add scant cup of Indian meal; little salt. When cool add two eggs, cinnamon and ginger to taste. Sweeten with brown sugar. Put a little cream or milk on top and bake.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Nov 26, 1917

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie is almost as old in the American history of feasting as those hungry Redskins who attended the first Thanksgiving get-together on the Massachusetts coast. Here are two recipes — one more or less in the homey tradition, the other based on a newer process.

Variations on the familiar Thanksgiving dessert theme is the rule in the Maltby household in northwestern New York state. Lucy Maltby, noted American interpreter of what the average American family likes best to eat, says, “Let’s have both a mince meat dessert and a pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, and add a surprise element to the dinner.”

Mrs. Maltby, an old friend of readers of this column, has worked out this mouth-watering “old wine in new bottles” recipe exclusively for us.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in shortening until the size of lima beans with a pastry blender or two knives. Add ice water a little at a time, mixing it in with a fork. Pat dough together and chill if possible.

Roll out about three quarters of dough on floured board. Line 10-inch pie plate, leaving about an inch overlapping the edges. Make double upright fold and pinch between thumb and forefinger to make fluted rim.

Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into pumpkin mixture. Pour filling into pastry lined pan. Roll out remainder of dough and cut pastry turkeys with turkey cutter. Place on top of filling. Bake in a hot oven (450 degrees F) for 10 minutes. Then reduce heat of oven to 350 degrees F and continue baking for 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean when inserted into pumpkin custard.

Thursday evening the careful male wrapped his straw kelly in a newspaper and stored it away for the winter. If he challenged fate by wearing it in public the chances are that it looks like a portion of breakfast food this morning, for an arbitrary law of fashion decrees that on September 15 the felt headpiece must be cleared of moth balls and take the place of discarded straw or panama.

Skylarking youths delight in enforcing this edict of fashion and the strong-minded protagonist of personal liberty who proclaims his right to wear a hay hat with a sunrise band until the frosts of autumn turn the rose tints of an alcoholic nose to blue, is apt to have his feeling outraged and his headpiece trampled in the dust of the street.

The passing of the straw lid is a signal for the end of summer flirtations and the retirement of the bathing girl from magazine covers; it pressages football, pumpkin pie, apple butter and the approach of the season of hunting and hunting stories.

The Gettysburg Times (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) Sep 16, 1921

Among the other trials laid up for us during the coming summer is an advance in the price of straw hats. The war in China is causing a shortage in the importations of straw braid, which comes from Santung, where millions of rolls of the material have been burned and destroyed by the rebels.

Alton Democrat (Alton, Iowa) Jan 13, 1912

They say this is a free country but it is surprising how the straw hats disappear at a certain time each year.

Alton Democrat (Alton, Iowa) Sep 27, 1913

Straw hats are cheaper this year than in 1924, possibly for the reason that the supply of material is greater with no straw votes being taken.

Albuquerque Morning Journal (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Apr 21, 1925

Some time ago we felt the urge to buy a straw hat, but had to use the money to purchase a half a ton of coal. It was a wise purchase, as those who bought straw hats and are now shivering will tell you.